Dynamic dance duo present Baxter double bill

Two of South Africa's leading dancers and choreographers, Grant van Ster and Shaun Oelf, will present a short season of two works at the Baxter's Flipside stage from 9 to 18 April 2015.

Grant and Shaun: A Double Bill of Dance will feature a new work Most Honest Man and the critically acclaimed The Architecture of Tears. Based on Shakespeare's Othello, Most Honest Man looks at the relationship between Othello (Van Ster) and Iago (Oelf) and explores sexual jealousy and its power to destroy. Through movement their relationship is interrogated as they delve into issues of trust, virtue and isolation.

Van Ster and Oelf first teamed up with dancer–musician Thabisa Dinga and choreographer–director Ananda Fuchs in 2014 to create The Architecture of Tears. This exploration into the human responses to attraction went on to receive great critical acclaim at the 2014 Cape Town Fringe, the 2014 Baxter Dance Festival and most recently at the 2015 Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg. Dinga will share her role with Ciara Barron, who performs from 9 to 14 April, while Dinga reprises her role from 15 to 18 April.

UCT graduates Mdu Kweyama and Alex McCarthy are overseeing the double bill as the Baxter Theatre Centre's artists–in–residence for 2015. Resident director Kweyama heads the production as director and choreographer, with dramaturgy and assistant direction by resident playwright McCarthy. The Baxter's CEO and artistic director Lara Foot is supervising the young theatre–makers for this production.

Grant and Shaun: A Double Bill of Dance runs from 10 to 18 April, and bookings are available through Computicket.

Staff reporter. Image by Oscar O'Ryan.